Krishna Sreerambhatla - Learning Log

“You cannot see anything that you do not first contemplate as a reality” – Ramtha

Introduction

Can one really identify the future and more importantly can one influence the future? These were the questions that I contemplated upon before beginning our course on “Understanding the New Global Environment”. Coming from Hindu descent I was brought up to believe that we all have an external locus of control in that we cant influence the course of our actions and that we were all born with a predetermined destiny (Known in Hindi as Karma)

Naturally I approached the course with scepticism. My personal reflection below elucidates what I learnt during the course and what impact this has had on me and on my personal development.

Reflection

“Don’t underestimate the power of denial”. This was one of the quotations expressed by a guest speaker during our Future Executive EMBA class. I definitely recognize this in a corporate environment. Especially market leaders strongly underestimate competition; success breeds failure as is often aptly quoted. Now this is where scenarios kick in. Scenarios are convincing surprise stories that help to change the microcosms of managers.

From the first class onwards, I was thrown into a maelstrom. I felt there was no structure to the class lectures, was there a process for developing scenarios? What is that then? Accentuated by the fact that I have an engineering background, I am always looking for structured process flows. With time, however, what became clearer to me was that even though there is a defined process framework to developing scenarios it is the numerous iterative steps between the process steps that make developing scenarios so complex.

Closely linked to this issue, the course gave me additional tools and frameworks to handle uncertainty. In the process of developing scenarios for our group assignment on the “The future of the biotechnology sector for medical applications” we were faced with lots of uncertainties and different stakeholders who all had a different impact on the development of biotechnology. As Wack (1985) aptly stated “Acknowledge uncertainty and understand its implications” I found the manner of developing system diagrams to gain an understanding of the bigger picture, identifying the key leverage points and thus identifying the key uncertainties an effective means to understanding uncertainty, building scenarios and acting upon them.

System diagrams in general and the understanding that it is the nature of the interrelationships between the elements of the system diagram that define a system were a very useful insight for me. I use this insight in defining what the value of the MBA has been for me. In the MBA we have been exposed to a variety of functional disciplines all of which are vital for the effective functioning of an organization. However it is the interlinks between the various functional disciplines which more adequately describes the organization, its competitive advantage and its strategic approach. This has been my biggest take away from the MBA studies. It has enabled me to develop a system diagram of an organization, in the process identify the key leverage points which are then used to develop scenarios and consequently develop the strategy. Admitted, we didn’t study how to develop strategies based on the scenarios developed during the course, but with the knowledge that we have now gained during the MBA we should be in a position to do this by ourselves. Having said this, it would have been more insightful, if we could do an end-to-end exercise; we seem to have done few of these during the MBA in general.

During the course, I found it difficult to initially understand the relevance of McLuhan to our course. However this became clearer during the last video session. In his movie, McLuhan’s wake, McLuhan states that “There is no inevitability where there is a willingness to pay attention”. To my understanding he refers to the fact that if we prepare ourselves thoroughly we can avoid any undesired outcome. Now the process of developing scenarios actually prepares us to better anticipate futuristic events. The scenarios may be incorrect but it is the thought process and the resulting “awakening of the lion’s” which carries far more value than the scenarios themselves. Consequently management pays attention and thus inevitability may be avoided. The natural question that arises is whether the inevitabilities can be indeed avoided. This is where I tend to depart from McLuhan’s line of thought. The inevitabilities may or may not be avoided. There are countless factors taking place in the external environment that are beyond our control. Whether we call this destiny or not, we don’t have everything in our hands. We should indeed prepare ourselves for the future, think about it, develop scenarios and prepare our strategic plans, however the outcome might be different from what we thought it would be because there are too many factors outside our spheres of influence. We should acknowledge this. Additionally we will attain an inner peace of mind and in the process I would argue, we would actually become more adept and comfortable at handling ambiguity and uncertainty. In line of this thought, I would actually re-phrase McLuhan as “There might be no uncertainty where there is a willingness to pay attention” I definitely see the value of developing scenarios and consequently determining our strategy. We should be in charge of our destiny but we may not realise what we wished for and we should accept this.

In his writing, McLuhan talks about “The way we perceive the world is the truth”. In other words “Truth is perception”. He bases this statement, to my opinion, on the fact that much of information is based on what we build up between our brain and expectations, in other words internal communication rather than externally sent communication. In the movie “What the Bleep do we know?” which we saw during our leadership elective, reference is made to Quantum Physics as being the science of possibilities. The movie talks about “the uncertain world of the quantum field hidden behind what we consider to be our normal, waking reality” What we see around us as being reality is actually what we imagine reality to be. I thought of this concept to be rather unrealistic when I first saw the movie, however my assumptions were further challenged by McLuhan: “The Vietnam war is a colossal fiction”, “We are in a battle with ourselves due to electronic media” “We only take 50% of information in, the rest is constructed” What have I learnt from this? I would say that what may be my official description of reality and the future really depends on how I perceive the world to be. If I have a negative view of the world, chances are high that events in my life do turn out to be negative. The truth is perception. Think positively!

Scenario analysis applied to myself

One of the main strategic dilemma’s I face today is what I will be doing with my MBA education. It has been two demanding years and I have put in a lot of energy and time. I have gained a lot of education, but what will I do with it? My strategic dilemma would be “The future of my MBA”

My driving forces:

• The desire for money
• The desire for status and power
• The desire for a good work/life balance
• The desire to better utilize the knowledge I gained during the MBA
• The desire to work in an intellectually stimulating environment
• The desire to work with like minded people

Based on these driving forces, I framed for myself two scenarios.

I sold my soul

I am working for a leading financial services firm which is very much different from what I have been doing before. It is really challenging, a new field, a new industry, a new working culture. It is a very intellectually stimulating environment, most of my colleagues have MBA’s from prestigious universities worldwide. Salaries are great, bonuses are fantastic. Working hours are long running easily into 12-15 hours per day. I am making million and sometimes even billion dollar mergers and acquisition deals. I get an adrenaline rush. Its exciting however I am getting tired. My wife is getting upset with me. Younger unmarried colleagues surround me and they don’t mind working hard. No one’s waiting at home for them.

I sold my ego

I am working for a large multinational corporation. I leverage upon my previous industry and work experience. I am in charge of a group of persons executing marketing strategy. Its work I haven’t done before; people management. Persons who don’t consider work as a priority in life surround me. They don’t derive inspiration from their jobs. What matters more is all the stuff they do outside work. Life is relaxed though. I generally do not make more than 40 hour weeks. I am at home everyday in the evening by 6pm to have dinner with my wife. We go out often in the evenings. I have a relaxed life. I am not making much money though.

My core strategy should cover both scenarios. This strategy should offer the thrill of the first scenario and the ease of the second. I need to take the time now to determine what this strategy would be together with my wife. In the end I would like to do what I am good at, what I was born to do.

I would like to end this essay by offering my sincere thanks to Daniel Erasmus. Daniel, your lectures have been fun and at the same time stimulating. In addition to academic pursuit you enabled me to develop myself personally and professionally. You are not only someone I value as a professor but also as a friend.

Krishna Sreerambhatla EMBA 2005

Reference

Wack, P. (1985), “Scenarios: Uncharted Waters Ahead”, Harvard Business Review 63, no. 5, October 1985